Thursday, August 24, 2017

Where food lovers go

It's been raining for the better part of last night and into this morning. My alarm didn't go off. It's still set to Pacific time so maybe that's why it's going off at odd hours lol which is just as well that this is the weekend and going to the mall might not be such a good idea. So I guess I'll sit here and tell you about my latest foodie find which I'm super-excited about. Hopefully, talking about food will bring some sunshine into what's going to be a weekend of isolated thunderstorms.A few months ago, a girl friend took me to lunch at a cafe I never knew existed. It turned out to be a hole in the wall completely hidden from view on a relatively busy street. Based on its location alone, you'd never guess how quickly this place fills up with the lunch hour crowd daily. Then again, maybe it's because it has a big menu that offers local, Western and fusion fare as well as cakes and desserts, and prices are reasonable. On that first visit, I was pretty impressed (for a fussy eater) and couldn't wait to take my daughters there. So we went. One of the items on their monthly house specials was the Grilled Fish which comes with a free drink (from the choice of 3, we picked the ice lemon tea) and free ice cream. The grilled fish turned out to be pretty good. In fact, DD2 (Dear Daughter 2) liked it so much she ordered it again on a subsequent visit.

DD1 had their Chicken Chop which is grilled boneless chicken served with brown sauce, mashed potatoes, a simple salad and slaw. Although Chicken Chop is a Western dish, many Westerners have apparently not heard of it. Word has it that it originated during the British occupation and was later made popular when the chefs who worked in British kitchens back in the day opened up restaurants and started serving this dish on their menu. These days, you can probably only find Chicken Chop at old school restaurants.

And I ordered the perennial local favorite translated loosely to mean "Fat Rice" or rice with lots of fat. People eat this for breakfast, lunch or dinner which makes it an all-day favorite. It features an overturned bowl of coconut rice (rice cooked in coconut milk - ooh fattening), chicken and potato curry (also cooked in coconut milk and we're officially in Fat City now), deep-fried anchovies and peanuts, cucumber slices and half a hard-boiled egg. No guilt, super delicious bwahaha!!

As portions go, this is considered fairly large by local standards. Just looking at this plate makes me feel full... and fat before
I even dig in lol. Yet I can't resist ordering this every time I come here. It's like the fat is calling out to me. Omg, what am I going to do?!! Thankfully, since the serving sizes of the grilled fish and chicken chop are much smaller, my daughters can jump in and help me finish this. One thing I
gotta say is, this is so-oo good. Burp! If you see someone shaped like a coconut rolling unceremoniously out the door to a car parked outside, that would be me lol.

Oh and not forgetting that this unassuming little cafe also serves pastas (we've tried their carbonara which wasn't bad at all), fried noodles and rice and desserts! Omg, did I mention we went out on a limb one time and ordered 2 slices of cakes? It's almost unheard of. When I was growing up, cakes were for special occasions and we rarely had desserts, and that's pretty much how my kids were raised too.

When we saw all these lovely cakes calling out to us from the glass display, we knew we had to come up with some special occasions (pronto!) to order not one but two slices of cakes. Okay, so this mocha caramel cheesecake was to celebrate the fact that I managed to find my way to this eatery purely from memory. Well okay, I did shoot past the junction I was supposed to turn into and had to make a U-turn back but we did eventually get there.

And this banana toffee coffee cheesecake was to celebrate finding a parking spot right outside the cafe. We'd gotten there early, the parking lot was empty and these cakes were delectable. So we're laughing!